Elton John SACD

mca · « **on:** 13 Nov 2004, 12:14 am »

Maybe this is the right forum!

Anyone pick up any of the new Elton John SACD's yet? I was not terribly impressed with the sound of Yellow Brick Road, so I was just curious about the new ones before I decide to order any of them.

I mention ordering them because my only local source, Best Buy, did not have any on the shelves when I stopped by yesterday. It is looking pretty sparce in there and I'm not even sure if they are bringing any new titles in

rbrb · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Nov 2004, 06:09 am »

Did you listen to the 2 channel or multi channel layer? Something in particular that you did not like? GYBR is one of Elton John's albums that I would actually consider getting on SA-CD.

Horizons · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Nov 2004, 05:30 pm »

I have GYBR on SACD. I'm not too impressed at all. It's slightly better than the redbook, but not much.

HOWEVER, consider the above opinions as slightly tainted by the fact that I have recently concluded that SACD is dead or will only survive as a tiny niche market. I know too many music industry insiders that are not confident about SACDs future.

All IMHO!

WerTicus · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Nov 2004, 05:40 pm »

the DVDA version is supposededly better.

dont remember where i read that though.

Digi-G · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Nov 2004, 08:03 pm »

Really? You guys didn't think GYBR sounded that good? I thought the multi-channel sounded pretty decent - Keep in mind the recording IS 30 years old. I haven't listened to the 2-ch SACD at all - honestly I can't hear much difference between 2ch SACD and RB - maybe I'm a tin-ear.

The dynamics of Danny Baily when the (shotgun) drums come in was quite impressive. The backing vocals on Candle in the Wind and throughout have much more life to them than the 2-ch. The acoustic version of Candle (guitar and vocals only, if I remember correctly) was very impressive.

Sometimes I think that music with lots of production (which most of these have) may lose a little oompf possibly due to mixing/engineering. But I still thought it sounded better than my 2-ch MoFi cd.

DTB300 · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Nov 2004, 01:58 pm »

I picked up: Tumbleweed, Captain, and his new one Peachtree all on SACD. For quality, Peachtree is the best, then Tumblewee, then Captain. Peachtree is an interesting album containing all sorts of Elton music - Top 40, Countryish, and great Elton Ballads. The album has really grown on me.

Tumbleweed and Captain while somewhat bright are still better than the Redbook versions and I am glad I picked them up. BTW, I have the DVD of GBYBR and it too is better than Redbook - cannot comment on SACD as I do not own it and have not heard it.

When I buy these new SACD releases, I do not expect miracles to happen, but I do expect them to sound better than the original redbook and that has been my experience with the re-release of albums - especially ones as old as these new releases.

It is all about how well they recorded them many years ago. Just compare them to some of the Mercury Living Presence 3 channel that have been release. Those Mercury recordings were done very well to start with and show it on the new SACD releases. Just my opinion.

Dan